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The Continuing Saga Of HBO’s Game Of Thrones Data Leak

The Continuing Saga of HBO’s Game of Thrones Data Leak

Last week, we filled you in on the cyber attack launched against HBO on July 31st, 2017, where unaired episodes, photos, and scripts were stolen. Remember how we reported that HBO’s email system was thought to be safe? Well, a week later, it turns out that it was also breached!

While HBO still believes that its entire email system wasn’t compromised, some distressing material has recently appeared online. Part of the hackers’ 1.5-terabyte data breach includes the Game of Thrones‘ stars personal details, which were allegedly lifted from company emails. Consequently, it seems that this cyber attack on America’s television giant may have hit much deeper than originally thought.

Since our first article, the HBO hackers have leaked more content online, including 37,977 email addresses, internal documents, and GoT’s fourth episode, “The Spoils of War”. As the weeks ahead progress, more data leaks are certainly anticipated. We’ll give you the full update below.Cast’s Emails and Addresses Made Public

On August 7th, 2017, the HBO hackers dumped another slew of stolen data onto the public. Things took a vicious turn when Game of Thrones stars’ email addresses and phone numbers were exposed. Famous actors, Emilia Clarke, Peter Dinklage, and Lena Headey were all targeted, as a confidential document filled with GoT contact information was posted online.

This new leak was accompanied by a threatening video letter, given by a hacker called “Mr. Smith” to HBO’s CEO Richard Plelper. Demanding a multimillion dollar payment, the team of cyber criminals claims: “We successfully breached into your huge network. HBO was one of our difficult targets to deal with but we succeeded [after 6 months].” The hackers stated that HBO is their 17th target of 2017, and so far, only three of their victims have refused to pay. However, as of August 10th, HBO hasn’t responded to these ransom demands.

GoT Leaked Episode Beats the Odds

Despite being leaked online prior to its Sunday airtime, Game of Thrones‘ fourth episode of season seven still soared above the show’s previous ratings. At 10.2 million viewers, “The Spoils of War” was the series’ most watched episode ever. This figure doesn’t even include the people who legally streamed this GoT episode from HBO’s website and media app. Apparently, even after July’s devastating hack, HBO continues to battle against the odds with its beloved flagship show, Game of Thrones.

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